Do You Have Any Tips for Closing Out My Work Day?

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00:00:02.580 | Cal, I struggle most with shutting down my day.

00:00:06.920 | I recently became a software architect,

00:00:08.640 | I'm still constantly task switching

00:00:10.120 | between my old development responsibilities

00:00:12.200 | and learning my new architectural role,

00:00:13.960 | such as keeping up with new projects

00:00:15.560 | and technologies inside our organization.

00:00:17.800 | I can usually perform some deep work in the mornings,

00:00:19.800 | but my afternoons are filled with status calls

00:00:21.600 | and virtual meetings to solve multiple

00:00:23.200 | small technical issues.

00:00:24.920 | At 4 p.m. I'm drained and finding the energy

00:00:27.340 | to clean out my inbox, organize my task list,

00:00:29.920 | and put a bow on the day, feels like a chore.

00:00:32.200 | I don't have a problem turning off my work,

00:00:33.760 | it literally doesn't even pop into my brain

00:00:35.400 | when I leave the office.

00:00:37.040 | Any tips on closing out the day?

00:00:38.840 | Could I maybe shut down at lunch

00:00:40.560 | and leave the rest of my day for meetings with colleagues?

00:00:43.080 | Or do you have any other advice?

00:00:44.680 | - Well, that's a good question, it's a common issue,

00:00:49.220 | that the afternoons get so busy

00:00:51.680 | that when you get to the end of the day,

00:00:53.000 | you can't face the onslaught of information

00:00:56.800 | you have to deal with, it's too exhausting,

00:00:58.320 | it takes up too much time.

00:01:00.080 | I can have two pieces of advice to give to you.

00:01:02.400 | Number one is what you suggested in your call

00:01:05.460 | I actually think is a good idea.

00:01:07.040 | I think it's completely fine to have a reckoning

00:01:11.160 | with your inbox and your plan that doesn't happen

00:01:13.480 | at the very end of the day.

00:01:15.260 | Lunchtime is not a bad idea.

00:01:16.960 | You deep work in the morning, at lunchtime,

00:01:19.520 | you process through the emails that have been sitting

00:01:22.240 | in your inbox, you look at your plan for the week

00:01:24.600 | and update that, you look at your calendar,

00:01:26.440 | you get your arms around everything,

00:01:27.760 | and then you turn your attention towards the status calls

00:01:30.560 | and meetings that take up the afternoon.

00:01:32.480 | It's a great idea, it's actually gonna give you more energy

00:01:35.480 | as you get towards those meetings

00:01:37.280 | 'cause you don't have this open loops looming

00:01:40.040 | in the back of your mind while you're trying

00:01:41.640 | to pay attention to what someone's telling you.

00:01:44.100 | The other piece of advice I'm gonna give is,

00:01:47.440 | every time you schedule a status call or a meeting,

00:01:52.000 | schedule for right after it time to process

00:01:55.560 | and make sense of what was discussed in that meeting

00:01:57.840 | or what was discussed in that status call.

00:02:01.520 | So you put something in your calendar,

00:02:02.840 | you put that right in your calendar right after it,

00:02:05.120 | 15 to 30 minutes,

00:02:06.180 | depending on how big the meeting or call is.

00:02:08.880 | This allows you to actually close all of the loops

00:02:11.920 | that are opened with each of these back

00:02:14.000 | and forth interactions to go through it and say,

00:02:15.960 | okay, what did I just commit myself to?

00:02:18.720 | And where am I gonna put that?

00:02:20.280 | And where should I write that down?

00:02:21.460 | And do I need to put some more notes on my list

00:02:23.840 | that now I have to get back to this person

00:02:25.280 | or me put a reminder on the calendar?

00:02:27.200 | You wanna figure out what do I need to do?

00:02:28.880 | Is there some emails I need to send out

00:02:30.520 | to get a process started?

00:02:31.560 | Do it there, make that part of your meeting.

00:02:34.100 | When we separate the two, this also leads to overwhelm

00:02:37.200 | because what happens then is if you have four status calls

00:02:41.120 | and meetings scheduled in the afternoon,

00:02:43.920 | you end up with four status calls and meetings worth

00:02:46.840 | of open loops and things that have to happen

00:02:49.440 | and deadline reminders all mixed together in your head

00:02:52.040 | and now it's 4.30.

00:02:54.080 | You're like, I can't even disentangle all of this.

00:02:56.120 | The thought of it is giving me anxiety sweats, right?

00:02:59.920 | It's built up to be too much

00:03:01.840 | and forget all the other emails unrelated

00:03:03.480 | that have been building up, it's too much.

00:03:05.680 | But if after every meeting you say,

00:03:07.400 | I'm now gonna spend time working on it,

00:03:08.980 | that a meeting is a two part affair.

00:03:10.480 | There's the part where there's other people involved

00:03:12.120 | and there's a part where I deal with it,

00:03:14.240 | that all gets handled and you get closure

00:03:17.120 | and you take a breath, then it's the next one.

00:03:19.200 | And then when you get to the end of the day,

00:03:21.360 | there's a lot less to deal with.

00:03:23.000 | You've dealt with the stuff that those things generated

00:03:25.680 | and all that's left now is maybe emails that have arrived

00:03:29.420 | unrelated to your meetings during the day.

00:03:30.760 | And if you wanna handle those the next day at lunchtime

00:03:32.440 | or what have you, I think that's fine.

00:03:33.980 | So do those two things, do your official shutdown earlier

00:03:38.200 | and schedule a processing period,

00:03:40.120 | piggybacking with every single other thing

00:03:41.920 | that goes onto your calendar.

00:03:43.320 | And I think you're gonna find the shutdown

00:03:44.720 | is gonna be painless and you're gonna come into it

00:03:47.720 | with much more mental clarity.

00:03:49.700 | All right, that's feeling.

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Do You Have Any Tips for Closing Out My Work Day?

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